July 1, 2018
This morning we slept in until 7 a.m. and headed to the lodge for breakfast at 8:15. There was frost on the ground, which was very pretty and something that we haven’t seen since we moved to Texas 4 years ago, and it really damn cold out! The breakfast service was actually pretty good, so maybe they put their A team on for breakfast. Our waitress took our order right away and we got coffee and our food rather quickly. It was definitely a pleasant surprise after yesterday.
We went back to our cabin and I downloaded pictures from yesterday and made social media posts. We had a guided hike scheduled for this morning, but we had cancelled that last night, thinking that we would much rather spend the time exploring on our own. Since each cabin comes with mountain bikes for each guest, I talked Rich into going for a bike ride on the trails. The trails are easy to follow, there are 3 of them and they are marked really well with signage and they are all man made, so they are fairly easy to navigate, not like trails that you will find up in the mountains in someplace like Colorado. We first took the easy trail, which is a two mile ride in one direction, which ends at a viewing platform and then you turn back around and come back. That went really smoothly. I stopped several times to take photos, because there were kangaroo everywhere you looked. It was actually a very pretty bike ride. Feeling like we hadn’t done enough and still had a lot of time left before lunch, we decided to take the long trail and see where that would take us. Almost right away, I could tell that this trail was going to be a bit more challenging as we came up to a pretty substantial hill rather quickly. I shot up it and turned around to see Rich walking his bike up, so I stopped and waited. Once he finally made it up the hill we took off again, I was feeling the breeze in my face and enjoying the crisp morning air and I was loving this! I just felt like I was on a nice little ride, but every time I turned around Rich was way behind. I don’t like to move slowly, especially when I am enjoying myself. Finally when I went around a bend in the road and couldn’t see him anymore, I stopped and waited. And waited. I was getting worried so I started back until I caught up with him. He told me that we needed to stop and rest! I thought he was joking, but once he laid his bike down and sat on the ground, I knew he was serious. I had to tease him, I was kicking his ass on this ride! He was having a hard time with this ride and we were only a few miles in. Now, there is no disputing what I have always said, those spin classes ride your ass into shape! I do spin classes at least a couple of times a week and it obviously pays off, I was spinning circles around him, lol! I laughed and teased him until he didn’t think it was very funny anymore, so then I decided I better stop and make sure that he wasn’t going to croak on me. It was a long way back to the lodge to get help! ;). In all fairness, he was carrying the backpack and was on antibiotics for an infection in his tooth, so that may have played a small part, but I like the story better when I am just in better shape than him!
We continue on our ride and Rich is enjoying the views at his pace and I am just on the ride, loving the cool weather and the exercise. It got pretty hilly in places and it could be a little challenging, but we made it. In one spot on the trail, there was a couple walking and we kept going past them, then I would have to stop and wait for Rich and they would pass us again, and this went on and on for over 15 minutes. It was getting annoying, so I finally told Rich to kick it up a notch so we could get past them far enough where they wouldn’t catch up again. At least that is what I thought would happen. We got a good amount of distance ahead of them and turned a corner and the hill that was in front of us was straight up and it was a big hill, this was going to be challenging, there was no way around that. I immediately get off of my bike, because there is zero chance that I can ride up this thing. We start walking our bikes up the hill and I think that we are making a pretty good pace, even though it is not easy, every muscle in both legs are burning, but we keep going. We turn around because we hear noise and that couple is coming up to the bottom of the hill. How did they get there so fast? I didn’t think we were going that slow up the hill. Anyway, we try and speed it up a little and not stop to catch our breath and here they come, up the hill, faster, and faster, they were catching us, it was like we had the Terminator couple behind us. They were walking up that hill like it was nothing. It was kind of creepy actually, I don’t know that they were human. I was getting a little scared, so I yelled at Rich that we are almost to the top, keep coming and as soon as we got up there, we jumped on our bikes and took off with the Terminators on our tail. That was a close one. I really thought we were in decent shape, but I am beginning to wonder lately!
By this time, even I am beginning to get tired, so I start peddling faster and we choose to take the short way back, it still makes for an 8 mile ride on this trail alone, plus the 4 previous miles on the first trail. At this point, I’m worried that we are going to miss lunch and I’m hungry (again). I keep an eye on Rich until we get to an open area and figure that he can see me, no matter how far back he is, so I just take off. I’m on a mission and I’m going to get back to the cabin. I pedal and pedal getting further and further ahead of Rich. I come to a point where I am not sure which direction I am supposed to go, because Rich is my direction person. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am extremely directionally challenged, to the point of entertainment for people. Anyway, I can see where the cabins are at this point, so I figure there is no way that I can get lost, so I am not going to wait to see which direction to go, I follow the trail that I think is correct. And, like normal for me, I chose the wrong trail. It isn’t even a trail actually, I have to get off my bike and walk through a deep ditch to get onto the road that goes into the resort and then I can’t figure out where to go. I know it is probably out of the way, but I see the homestead house that is directly behind our cabin and I know if I can get there, I can get to our cabin. I head in that direction and pedal and pedal, because it seems like it is miles away. I finally make it and make it back to the cabin, thinking Rich is going to be there, but he isn’t. I park the bike, wait for a few minutes on the porch, because he has the key and then I finally decide I better start walking to find him, I don’t know where he is and if he is okay. I don’t get very far and I can see him coming up the road to the cabin. I chuckle at him that I got lost and after talking with him, find out that I did 2 extra miles by taking the wrong turn, and I still beat him to the cabin. He wasn’t amused. He was worried about me, because he knows how much of a hot mess I am when it comes to directions and figured I was in China by now. Anyway, as you can tell, we survived and made it through.
We went to lunch, where true to form, they got Rich’s order wrong and when he told them and handed it to the waitress to send it back, she actually rolled her eyes at him and turned with the food in hand and walked away. Such lovely service here, lol!
After lunch we laid in bed and watched tv and I took a nap and just got lazy. I didn’t want to get up for dinner, I wanted to eat in our room, but they charge you extra for that and the food is barely edible when you eat it in the restaurant, so I doubt it would even make it to our room.
We finally found the energy to go to dinner and the service was definitely better than last night, but still comical. We had an Asian waitress and between her communication blocks and Rich’s round about way of trying to explain what he won’t eat, the two of them had the most comical conversation and I just sat back and shook my head. Again, the service was pretty darn slow, so after our meal (which are all included), we sat and sat, waiting for our waitress to come back so we could tell her we didn’t want dessert and were done, but she never did, so we just got up and left. We were just out of the restaurant and she comes running after us, wanting to tell us that she hoped we enjoyed our dinner. We said it was fine and started walking and she just kept following us, asking us questions about the service, if we enjoyed, blah, blah, blah, she was like the Terminator couple, hot on our trail and wasn’t about to back off. We started walking faster and she kept following us, wanting to make sure everything was ok, she wasn’t letting up, we were both so confused about what was going on, it was so odd. We finally got to the steps to head outside and she stopped yelled goodnight and turned around. We laughed, and laughed and joked that we thought she was going to be coming home with us to our cabin and we were going to have another person on our journey with us. It was entertaining for us at least, we laughed pretty hard about it all the way back to our cabin. Maybe it just doesn’t take much to entertain us when we are in the middle of nowhere.
